Budget keyboard

menamestom · January 2022

Are there any budget keyboards with decent piano, electric piano and organ sounds?

I could go the midi route and vst’s but I like the idea of external sounds also.

I used to have a Nord Electro 2 but foolishly sold it when a band split up.
just wondering if the budget end has come on in the last 10 years.

Currently looking at these:-

Roland Go keys
Yamaha PSR E373

Danny1969 · January 2022

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

Bridgehouse · January 2022

I have a Yamaha MX61 for travelling around. Many of the presets sound the same as they do on my expensive Montage 6. You also get a DX engine which you control from iPad. I really like it

menamestom · January 2022

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

octatonic · January 2022

menamestom said:

Are there any budget keyboards with decent piano, electric piano and organ sounds?

I could go the midi route and vst’s but I like the idea of external sounds also.

I used to have a Nord Electro 2 but foolishly sold it when a band split up.
just wondering if the budget end has come on in the last 10 years.

Currently looking at these:-

Roland Go keys
Yamaha PSR E373

Gokeys is junk, avoid.

Bridgehouse · January 2022

octatonic said:

menamestom said:

Are there any budget keyboards with decent piano, electric piano and organ sounds?

I could go the midi route and vst’s but I like the idea of external sounds also.

I used to have a Nord Electro 2 but foolishly sold it when a band split up.
just wondering if the budget end has come on in the last 10 years.

Currently looking at these:-

Roland Go keys
Yamaha PSR E373

Gokeys is junk, avoid.

Agreed.

menamestom · January 2022

octatonic said:

menamestom said:

Are there any budget keyboards with decent piano, electric piano and organ sounds?

I could go the midi route and vst’s but I like the idea of external sounds also.

I used to have a Nord Electro 2 but foolishly sold it when a band split up.
just wondering if the budget end has come on in the last 10 years.

Currently looking at these:-

Roland Go keys
Yamaha PSR E373

Gokeys is junk, avoid.

I half expected it to be honest.

the Juno DS61 would probably be the more reasonable budget Roland option.

Bridgehouse said:

I have a Yamaha MX61 for travelling around. Many of the presets sound the same as they do on my expensive Montage 6. You also get a DX engine which you control from iPad. I really like it

Also on my radar, will have a good look.

Danny1969 · January 2022

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

Funkfingers · January 2022

Spectrasonics Keyscape does acoustic, electro-mechanical and tine pianos, clavinets, Wurli, digital (Roland JD, MKS-20 and, possibly, a few D-50 style), not sure about FM types.

Stavros · January 2022

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

@Danny1969, would you recommend a good value keyboard/ midi controller to go with Main Stage? Ideally less than £100.

octatonic · January 2022

Stavros said:

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

@Danny1969, would you recommend a good value keyboard/ midi controller to go with Main Stage? Ideally less than £100.

They are all roughly equivalent at that price point.
How many keys do you want?

Danny1969 · January 2022

Yeah because a keyboard is a mechanical device a quality one cost a lot of money even though it's only transmitting midi and has no audio processing internally.

For piano at home I like and use an 88 key Roland A series, for live playing my parts are generally synth and strings so I can use a much smaller and cheaper controller. The Nektar I have was about £45 and although it's mechanically noisy that's not a problem onstage.

Older Yamaha and Casio all in keyboards come up cheap all the time and they can be used as midi controller keyboards with the inbuilt sounds ignored.

Stavros · January 2022

octatonic said:

Stavros said:

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

@Danny1969, would you recommend a good value keyboard/ midi controller to go with Main Stage? Ideally less than £100.

They are all roughly equivalent at that price point.
How many keys do you want?

I’m an absolute beginner so probably do not need full size, plus space limited

Stavros · January 2022

Danny1969 said:

Yeah because a keyboard is a mechanical device a quality one cost a lot of money even though it's only transmitting midi and has no audio processing internally.

For piano at home I like and use an 88 key Roland A series, for live playing my parts are generally synth and strings so I can use a much smaller and cheaper controller. The Nektar I have was about £45 and although it's mechanically noisy that's not a problem onstage.

Older Yamaha and Casio all in keyboards come up cheap all the time and they can be used as midi controller keyboards with the inbuilt sounds ignored.

Cheers Danny

menamestom · January 2022

Stavros said:

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

@Danny1969, would you recommend a good value keyboard/ midi controller to go with Main Stage? Ideally less than £100.

If you want really nice piano and electric piano feel you need some kind of hammer action weighted keys really, but then that’s not ideal for organs and synths.
Most cheap midi controllers work well for synths and organs but you do miss the feel for piano parts, so depends what the priority is.

I think having both - an 88 key hammer action board and something like a 61 key synth action board is the ideal!

paulmapp8306 · January 2022

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

But will the keybed you havent priced in?

I dont like the VST route - but many swear by it. Dont rule it out but factor in everything you need.

paulmapp8306 · January 2022

I think we need a budget..... OP mentioned its a budget keyboard hes looking for - but what is that?

£1000 is relatively budget for me (at the moment).... but I know others that would balk at £100.

menamestom · January 2022

paulmapp8306 said:

I think we need a budget..... OP mentioned its a budget keyboard hes looking for - but what is that?

£1000 is relatively budget for me (at the moment).... but I know others that would balk at £100.

There isn’t really a budget, or at least that’s what I need to find out. I was wondering if anything in the £200-£300 range was usable but already I’m now in the £600 range.

Juno DS61, VR-09, MX61 etc.

I don’t need loads of sounds, just decent organs, E.P’s, and a reasonable piano.

I don’t need loads of features either - Mod wheel, transpose octave up/down.

I could go VST route or even use my ipad but seems like a messy solution getting audio in and midi out, would need another interface I would imagine.

I’m currently borrowing a Roland XP-80, that’s a bit big, heavy and overcomplicated for what I need. Sounds are reasonable but I would imagine sounds have got better since the 90’s.

What I’d really like is another Nord Electro 61 but that is too expensive to justify.

goldtop · January 2022

+1 on the Yamaha MX series. They really are a complete Motif engine in a cheap frock. Keybed is a bit lightweight, but I never noticed after 5 minutes. All models will work as a MIDI interface for your computer and some also do bidirectional USB audio, if that simplifies hook-up things for you?

It's class-compliant, too, so it would also work directly with an iPad via Apple's connection widget.

RobDavies · January 2022

Stavros said:

octatonic said:

Stavros said:

Danny1969 said:

menamestom said:

Danny1969 said:

Have you got a Mac of any kind ?

Main Stage 3 sounds superb and cost £26

That looks great, but I’m using a Windows laptop and Cubase.

The Macbook Air’s are tempting bit in all honesty my Laptop is fine so couldn’t justify the swap.
I’d probably connect midi to my Ipad so I could use the garageband sounds at least.

My live rig is a 2012 Macbook running Mainstage, so no need to spend a fortune. I prefer hardware myself but you need to spend a hell of a lot on a hardware keyboard to match the sounds of the £26 Mainstage. Basically a 2015 Macbook Air from Ebay for £250 and £26 Mainstage will be far superior to a £700 hardware keyboard.

@Danny1969, would you recommend a good value keyboard/ midi controller to go with Main Stage? Ideally less than £100.

They are all roughly equivalent at that price point.
How many keys do you want?

I’m an absolute beginner so probably do not need full size, plus space limited

It’s probably a bit too ‘amateur’ for you but I got a Korg microkey 37 USB keyboard for Christmas. It’s great…. Linked up to the iPad and with Korg’s M1 app, and the Audiokit D1 app, I am in 90’s keyboard heaven.

Stavros · January 2022

Looks good, thanks for the heads up.

Oh and nothing could be too amateur for me, complete newbie to keys!

Stratavarious · January 2022

Roland Juno DS61.. amazing keyboard.., every piano, epiano, organ and synth sound you could want. Very impressed. Weighs hardly anything too. Got sample triggering pads and a vocoder too.

Lot easier to gig with than my old heavyweight keyboards.

i looked at the VR-09 and MX options too for a long time choosing, arpeggiator was a decider. For drawbars, the VR-09 might be best.

wolsnah · January 2022

I've a Yamaha MOXF6 sat in the cupboard not doing much. If you're interested, drop me a line. Weighs in at ~7kg, has gig bag and internal memory upgrade (I'd have to check size). Sounds excellent but I ended up going for something smaller and more gimmicky for messing around on. This is very much more a performance synth. I umm and ahh about moving it on given it's not getting any use but I always think I'll revisit it and explore the sounds more at some point. Doesn't help that I can't play, I just like creating noises.

paulmapp8306 · January 2022

menamestom said:

paulmapp8306 said:

I think we need a budget..... OP mentioned its a budget keyboard hes looking for - but what is that?

£1000 is relatively budget for me (at the moment).... but I know others that would balk at £100.

I don’t need loads of sounds, just decent organs, E.P’s, and a reasonable piano.

Then IMO the choice is a simple one. The Roland VR730. Proper premium waterfall keys (the 09 are smaller, more plastic keys and it isn't a waterfall bed - though its the same organ engine). Top notch organs sounds with real drawrbars (as good as the Nords - but which youd prefer is personal). The 730 has Rolands V Piano in it (the 07 doesn't). The Pianos are "to taste" some dont like Roland Pianos) but there decent - and the EPs are nicer than the Nord I think (acoustic pianos arnt) - certainly up there.

Add to that theres actually a fully fledged VA synth engine on board - you cant edit the sounds from the panel (though you can play them) BUT from the PC editor you can - then save them to onboard slots for recall.

There just under a grand new but Ive seen them go for £600 used..

if your even considering the VR09 - the 7630 adds the synth engine (dont think the VR one is editable in the way the 730 is), V-Pianos and waterfall keybed.... its a no brainer.

paulmapp8306 · January 2022

Doesn't help that I can't play, I just like creating noises.

Then you dont need a performance board - just a decent proper synth lol.

wolsnah · January 2022

paulmapp8306 said:

Doesn't help that I can't play, I just like creating noises.
Then you dont need a performance board - just a decent proper synth lol.

I know that now

If you want to give your lovely Pro 3 away, I'm sure I could find a space for it that wasn't a cupboard

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